Psychological thriller set in BASINGSTOKE (Hampshire)
Crime fiction set in WYOMING and MONTANA
17th April 2026
The Crossroads by C J Box, crime fiction set in Wyoming and Montana.
The Crossroads is the twenty eighth book in C J Box’s highly successful ‘Joe Picket Wyoming Game Warden’ series. It is, though, very different to the others. Joe is shot and fighting for his life in hospital. His daughters, aided (sort of) by the local sheriff step up to trace the attacker. Joe was on patrol in his truck near a three way intersection when he was attacked. Each of the three ways led to ranches owned by people who might like to see him dead… The daughters’ job is to find out which one it was… they all had a motive.
Was it the hedge fund billionaire who had purchased his ranch a couple of years’ ago, and who wanted Joe to sign off on development of part of the ranch where sage grouse were breeding? Joe was reluctant, and suspected the deal was bigger than just the holiday homes that were being proposed. Or was it the two strange sisters who might be running a drug manufacturing and distribution operation from their property? Or maybe it was the couple who, as one of the daughters discovered, had imprisoned a relative on their property.? Had Joe made the same discovery?
There was no shortage of suspects. The girls work diligently to come up with the correct answer… and their lives are endangered in the process. Meanwhile Joe, in hospital in neighbouring Montana where he had been taken, slowly emerges from an induced coma.
The Crossroads is a book very strong on location. As you read it you can absolutely sense the wide open spaces of Wyoming and Montana. You feel how far these two states are from the major US cities of both the East and West Coasts.
The book is a worthy addition to the Joe Pickett series. Yes, the series has become a little formulaic but it nevertheless works.
Tony for the TripFiction team
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